True, but when a company doesn't quite nail it, it clears the decks for that particular figure/outfit - no "next effort" for many years. So if HT drops the ball on an old Ben sculpt for example, no other old Ben will be made in 1/6 for at least 3+ years, maybe much longer with less in-demand characters like Ben, maybe a shorter time for Han in a particular outfit. It makes the "don't buy it then" argument harder to swallow - this is "it" for the next 5 years for the character you love and really want on your shelf.
If a collector feels a sense that they absolutely must own something, it's not the manufacturer's responsibility though. I'll give an example from my own past. From the moment Sideshow revealed their 1/6 T-800 figure from T2, I dreamt of a fully battled damaged version. Sideshow didn't produce it, I was disappointed and vocally sad, but I was not angry with them over it. NECA produced a 12" figure of it but it was solid plastic, was it what I dreamt of, no, and I had a choice, buy or wait and hope for someone to deliver on my dreams, and I made the choice to buy, but I could have passed. Enterbay finally came through and created the figure I'd always dreamt of, but the timing of when it came out and the price meant me not being able to get it, a figure I dreamt of for years and lived up to those dreams was within my grasp and I had to let it go. Was I sad and vocal again, you bet, did I ***** about EB like they ruined my life or let me down, know, timing sucks, life moves on. Collectibles are a luxury, not a necessity, no matter how much we feel we want or need something, we don't truly need it, and if we never get, the sun will rise the next morning and life will carry on. That's my only point, that some people post comments like there is no meaning in their life without a certain collectible and if it doesn't live up to their expectation and they pass on it, their life has been destroyed. I just feel a healthy perspective on the importance of collectibles in our lives needs to be maintained.
There's always the aspect of people who own older versions of the character in 1/6 trying to protect the value of the fig they own (that can drive negativity/trolling of the "replacement" fig,) but there's also a kind of pressure cooker thing where people have been waiting for years for a character in 1/6, then hear rumors, then it's revealed and it's not at the level they wanted and everyone knows that this is "it" so things go further. HT Indy was a good example of that (thread was closed.)
Again, I get the dreaming of something, building up an image in your head, disappointment when the realization of your dream doesn't wholly meet that vision, but there can also be compromise and balance. What I most often see is black or white response, no gray, either "yes it met my every expectation" or "one tiny feature is off, dreams smashed, it's a piece of **** and the company doesn't know how to make figures." I don't know why it's so hard to see comments more along the lines of "I've been dreaming of this for a long time and this doesn't completely meet my expectations, I wish _____ was different, but I'm still glad it's being made."
Is a NECA T-800 everything I could ever hope for, certainly not, but if that were my only option ever, and at one point it seemed to be, I could learn to appreciate it for what it is and not dwell on what it isn't. That's my issue with the way this hobby has changed, many collectors that are joining these communities don't seem capable of finding the positivity in a situation that isn't 100% positive for them, it's all or nothing.
And the one thing comments about "entitlement" and "happiness" downplay is things like - for example - a $270 pricepoint on SSC Snowspeeder Luke. It raises the bar considerably over if it was a $170 fig. For nearly $300 for a fairly straight-forward fig, many would argue you are indeed "entitled" to "happiness." Like saying you should have the same expectations checking into a $50 Motel 6 versus a $300 Five Star hotel.
Again, if you see a figure priced at $300, and you expect a certain quality for that cost and don't feel it's there, you are well within your right to object to it and not pay it, but the company is not obligated to raise the piece to the level you deem fit for the cost, and they're not going to because for each person who objects, there tends to be someone who doesn't and pays it anyway. If sales plummet enough where these companies feel they can't get their asking price no matter what they do, they'll change, but if they can get what they charge for the work, they'll continue.
Sideshow's new Darth Maul is not remotely a $230 package, not when this Luke is the same price and comes with everything he does, but in their eyes, Sideshow's selling well enough to still charge high for less, and they're even doing another production run of Maul it's been selling well enough.
All I'm saying is, people don't have to just be grateful and love everything that comes out, you can be displease and discuss why, it's when people start to act like some injustice has been done upon them that I take issue, it's an overly dramatic, unwarranted reaction over a luxury item. My girlfriend's 4 year old acts like that, he gets a new toy then complains about not getting the other one that goes with it, when he talks like that I tell him the one he did get can go back to the store if he's not going to appreciate it.
